Fire Can Burn
by BleachLover31
Summary: Cato is a ruthless killer in the Hunger Games. Katniss is The Girl on Fire his biggest cometition in the Games except for Thresh. What happens when Cato becomes interested in Katniss and her past? Can he possibly win her over? AU, Rated T for now. Next chapter is up! super sorry for the big delay!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note~~~ Hello Everybody! (Hi Dr. Nick), Ok this is my first Katno story I know its like super short but since it's just the first chapter it'll stay like this. Plus I don't want to write a whole lot and people don't like it...that would kinda stink on my side. So please, honestly tell me what you think of it! Tell me if you hate it or criticize me or tell me you want me to continue! Slight AU... Okay well please enjoy! sorry again for the shortness T.T OH and one last thing, I kinda played around with the POV's I just wanted to experiment for later on.**

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Fire Can Burn

Prologue

**Cato's POV **

She was magnificent. Her brown hair cascading down her shoulder in her slimming red dress hit me with longing. When she looks at you with those gray eyes it looks as if she peering deep within you. Maybe if she was from District 2 and not in the Games I would give that girl a thought. I am almost positive she could have been mine, but she is now absolutely my enemy. I smirk as I watch her in her interview; it would be fun to crush such a pretty soul.

**Katniss's POV**

I hated him. He was so arrogant, so full of himself. He thought he was the biggest thing since Finnick Odair, and I hated him for it. How can one person find so much pleasure in causing pain? He also volunteered but for the exact opposite reason I did. He volunteered just to prove to himself that he can kill 23 other kids. I won't let him get me though; I will NOT be killed by someone like him who doesn't even have a soul.

The Fire Engulfs Him

**Cato's POV**

Rage engulfed me. "That little bitch, how could this have happened!" I look around at our demolished camp; our food supplies, either gone or blown up. As I look around the camp I see something that peaks my interest. Little drops of blood on the outskirts of what once was our camp, I smirk. She didn't know about the mines and injured herself too. "Regroup yourselves!" I yell to the other careers and the boy we were playing; Loverboy…what was his real name? Oh yeah, Peeta the man who confessed his supposed love to Katniss during the interviews. Soon enough I would kill him, but now he is not my priority. That Girl on Fire, she seems to just be dying for my attention and who am I to deny her of it?

I walked away from the camp, following the splotches of blood. She seems to be bleeding out fast, but I just hope she doesn't die before I get to her. If anything at all, I NEED to kill her before, whatever it may be, the inevitable happens. It disgusted me how much the Capitol liked her and cheered her on. She is not the only person in the Games! Sure she may be beautiful, courageous, stubborn, feisty, and defiant but- - - wait what did I just think to myself? I shake my head vigorously and get back to following her trail.

"Where oh where is that girl on fire?" I said half singing half chanting. I liked taunting, it causes another person to be overcome with anger and not think of their next move. I would know it best since taunting is my Achilles heel; wait….was she just taunting me now? I looked down and saw the blood trail growing; I needed to find her fast. I picked up the pace and continued to follow the trail. Finally, I started to hear sharp breaths of pain. "got ya..." Up in a tree again of course; I don't understand that girl. "Don't make me chop you down Fire Girl, come down and fight like a good little District Twelve" I heard her scoff.

"Yeah like you would ever put me out of suffering, I'll stay up here thanks" The tree shook a bit, she seemed to be adjusting her position. How to deal with this...

**Katniss POV**

I had heard him coming from a mile a way, seriously who couldn't? That man does not know how to suppress his presence. His breathing was loud enough, not to mention the constant crunching of leaves and twigs under his boots. Climbing the tree had proven to be a bit difficult with my now injured leg. Stupid careers they just HAD to go and booby-trap their food. Well whatever they at least don't have food supplies anymore, me and Rue's plan worked. Oh God, Rue! Where is she? How is she? Did she light all the fires and get back to the meeting place? Did they catch her? Thankfully my bad thoughts were interrupted by a voice, a voice which made me shudder.

"Don't make me chop you down Fire Girl, come down and fight like a good little District Twelve"

I scoffed, 'good little District Twelve' he obviously doesn't know my or my district's reputation. But I needed to think of a comeback and quick. "Yeah like you would ever put me out of suffering, I'll stay up here thanks" Hm…not as snide as I would have hoped but it got the job done for now. Gah! My leg was killing me, literally. I was losing too much blood, but I needed to get to Rue and make sure that she was okay. I gently started to adjust myself. "Ngh!" Okay, that was a little too much movement.

My only choices now are to bleed to death up in this tree, or basically fight to my death. I know he is still down there I can hear the loud intakes of air he calls breathing. I'm too weak to fight-even climb down this tree as a matter of fact. Might as well tell Rue that I am okay for the moment, I whistled our four note signal and waited for her return. There it is, good she is okay. I looked down at my leg a moment and winced, even just looking at it caused me pain. Shrapnel had gone everywhere, including the inside of my leg. Maybe… maybe I can at least have the element of surprise. A small smile crept onto my lips, now or never I guess.

**Cato POV**

What the hell is she doing up there? Having brunch? I am way too impatient for this and apart from the occasional shout of pain she made no noise. That is until that whistle, who was she contacting? Had she actually made an alliance? Were they dangerous? Wait, what am I talking about, she is from twelve. Nobody in their right minds would pair up with someone from twelve. Lost in thought I had failed to notice the sound of the rustling leaves and was too late to reacting when gravity decided to throw something on me. The stupid branch that Fire Girl was on broke and fell on top of me with none other than Fire Girl still on it. That was something my viscera did not need. Before I could do anything I started to black out. Me, Cato Sinclair blacked out in the middle of the Hunger Games. Just great.

_Where am I? I look around, but there is nothing but darkness eminently closing in on me. Suddenly I hear a heavenly voice breaks through the awful silence._

"_Deep in the meadow, under the willow…" It entices me, draws me in closer and closer." A bed of grass, a soft green pillow…" I continue to walk closer and closer to it wishing and needing to know who the angelic voice belongs to. "Lay down your head…" light starts to come into my vision and I see the silhouette of a girl in front of me. " And close your sleepy eyes…" I don't let her finish as I reach out, touch her shoulder, and turn her to face me. The first thing I notice is that I am staring directly into dark grey, stormy eyes. I can just about say my heart stopped as I recognized those eyes. They belonged to The Girl on Fire, Katniss Everdeen. She started to have tears in her eyes and her wonderful voice was soiled with the sorrow that overtook it. Where did the Fire Girl I know go and who replaced her with this sad looking version of her? It unsettles me to have this picture of her in my head, and I want to change that. I want to be the person to get the fire back into those stormy eyes of hers._

My vision came back into focus with a kick to the head. I groggily looked up to see my fellow district tribute, Clove. "Sleeping during the day are we?" she said with a smug look on her face. I only awarded her with a grunt as I sat up and pushed the fallen branch off of me. Rubbing my head, I looked around with no Girl on Fire in sight.

"I'll be back at camp later" I barely grumbled and stormed away from Clove who only rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. And this time I set out to find Katniss Everdeen once again, but for a different reason. I suddenly found myself desperately wanting to know the past of Fire Girl and more about her. I wanted to keep her from ever shedding a tear again.

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**Yay! FIrst Chapter done!, so please R&R and tell me what you think of it :) if it is liked and i get some reviews i'll continue it, but i may be slow on updating because school is like overwhelming with work and i also have two different softball teams to play on, plus at this moment im working on another Hunger Games story, a Fairy Tail (GajeelxLevy 3) story, I'm writing poems, writing my novel that I have been working on for like months and am barely getting anywhere T.T and helping my friend with her story on fictionpress :) You guys should check it out! It called Why Me? by SteppingOnBrokenGlass. Yeah..so i hoped you enjoyed the first chapter! and I'm not sure about the name yet...what do you guys think?**


	2. The Fire Spreads

It was probably a terrible moment for Cato to come crashing through the forest. He was rendered speechless at the scene in front of him. There was Katniss openly weeping over the body of the little girl from eleven. That stupid district 12 was going to get herself killed! His thoughts suddenly stopped as her started to hear the quiet beginnings of the song he heard in his dream. It sounded even worse than what he had heard in his dream. The lyrics were so muddled with sorrow and grief that he could barely make them out.

Looking harder at the scene from the edge of the clearing he was standing at he could faintly see a smile on the little district 11's face before she teared up and whispered something to Katniss. Katniss merely nodded and continued her song before he saw the little girl's body finally go limp and heard the canon go off.

Katniss finally set the little girl's, whom Cato never actually learned the name of, body down and Cato finally got a view of the injury which did the little girl in. It was a wound directly in her stomach; either a sword or spear if he was closer he would be able to tell. Suddenly Katniss did something Cato had never expected, she got up and walked away, just like that. Was she really just going to leave the little girl whose death she was just crying over and continue without doing anything? Damn, that bitch could lock up her feelings tight- Cato's train of thought stopped when he heard another cannon. Greaat. Who was dead now? He secretly hoped it was Clove, so he would not have to look at her smug face with knowing eyes when he returned.

Katniss came back into his view, still looking a mess from crying but he could care less. What he was interested was what she was doing. She hadn't even treated herself for her injured leg yet and she was bending down once again next to the little girl. Katniss threw a glance over her shoulder in the opposite direction of Cato. She looked angry and yet he saw a hint of self-admiration, so his curiosity got the best of him and he peeked to see what she was looking at. He found his answer when he saw that annoying ass kid from District 1, Marvel. He had a glazed over look in his bleak, dead eyes, and had an arrow coming out of his jugular. Well now he knew who the other cannon was for. Damn, Fire girl was a feisty little thing.

Katniss looked back down at the little girl and started to pluck apart the bunch of flowers that she had brought back into the clearing with her. She started strategically placing the flowers on the girl's lifeless body, covering up the deadly wound and making her almost seem as though she was taking a peaceful nap...forever. He noticed that Katniss had regained her stoic expression once again as she put the remaining flowers on the little girl. She then stood up and gave a salute to...basically the sky. He didn't know what it was or what it represented, but he was sure it was meaningful, 'else she wouldn't do it. The whole scene that had unfurled in front of him was extremely sad and would've been quite moving, if it had been another person. No, he was Cato Sinclair and he wouldn't believe that he had been moved, even if those images would be etched into his brain until the day he died. Even if no one else would ever see it, he would. For the rest of his life, and he knew that even if he didn't want to say that at the time.

With that, Katniss clumsily and painfully stumbled back into the cover of the woods. She hurt everywhere; her leg, her head, her arm, her brain, her heart, basically her whole being. Seeing Rue die changed something in Katniss and she knew that as soon as she was stumbling through the thick grove of trees. Before she was merely winning for Prim and her beloved Prim only, but when she met Rue she instantly formed a connection. She had only really known Rue for a couple of days, but that was all the time she had needed to feel as though Rue was like her little girl. Now she had two promises made to win the games, and she had never been one to break a promise.

As much as she wanted to keep the promises she had made to little Rue and her precious Prim, she didn't know if she could go on any longer. She bumped into a tree extremely roughly and was knocked on her ass. She screamed in agony as her leg impacted with the cold hard ground. She no longer had the strength to get up so she stared at the ground in front of her noting how the shadows were gradually coming towards her, signaling the end of the day and the beginning of the freezing cold night. "I'm sorry Prim...sorry Rue...I broke my promise" She muttered in a barely audible tone as she slowly blacked out. She could no longer feel anything but the searing pain in her leg and the temperature dropping. She didn't hear the leaves crunching either, signaling his approach. The only thing in her world at the moment was pain.

Cato approached her body carefully, remembering what had become of Marvel when he went up against Fire Girl. He knelt down and checked her pulse. Good, she was still breathing even if it was extremely faint. He could help that at least. This girl was something else he decided, secretly hating himself for admiring that. God damn! Why did this one girl from District 12, yes a rat from District 12 cause him so much conflict, inside and out? He grumbled incomprehensible words as he lifted said girl bridal style and carried her off. Ugh, she was going to be quite difficult when she woke up. Maybe he should just hit her with a branch with all his weight on it and keep her unconscious. Karma is a bitch they say. Ugh, this was going to be a looooooong Hunger Games and he actually was not as excited about the prospect as you'd expect a trained killer to be.

Katniss groggily picked her head up. What had happened? Where was she? Her expression immediately soured as she remembered. Oh yeah, she was in the Hunger Games and she just saw her closest ally die in her arms before collapsing from an injury. Ugh, it was going to be such a pain to move with that leg now. She tested her pain-o-meter and gently shifted her injured leg. It actually wasn't that bad. Wait a second! She sat up with a start; this was definitely not the tree she blacked out next to because the notches were in different places. Something fishy was definitely going on, but she couldn't quite figure out what.

Bushes suddenly rustled to her left, and she immediately searched for her bow. Where was it? In her semi-panic attack mode she had failed to notice that the rustling had stopped and a certain Career was watching her smugly. "So I guess that was a good decision on my part." She stopped her search and her body straightened on its own accord. She knew that smug voice very well, and bow or not, she was about to raise certain hell.

He had been patrolling their perimeter when she had woken up. He actually hadn't expected her to be up and about this soon after the extent of her injury, but I guess that's what Capitol medicine can do. When he saw her frantically searching for her bow he couldn't help but smile. It seemed that without a curved piece of wood with a string fire girl wasn't even that scary. She was just a 16 year old girl, trying to survive. He had chosen to hide her bow just for this reason so she wouldn't kill him, and he was proud of that choice.

Speaking his mind on that opinion had been a bad choice on his end though, because Fire Girl turned around with a look of pure fury on her face. Uh-oh.

She hurled herself toward Cato, managing to take him by surprise and tackling him to the ground. She straddled him and held his arms down. "Where is my bow!?" Cato's shocked faced morphed to one of amusement.

"Well, well look who's impatient Fire Girl" Cato taunted her, wiggling his eyebrows a bit. This could finally be my chance. "You can want to find your bow all you want, but without me you won't…although, I wouldn't mind staying in this position. Whatever is fine with you."

God was he infuriating!...Although he was right, she wouldn't get anywhere without her bow, she needed it. Katniss stood up and released Cato. "Fine, what do you want in return for my bow?" She grumbled reluctantly.

Cato tapped his finger to his chin in mock-thought then smirked. "hm…. Oh I've got it! How's about you and I team up for a bit? The Girl on Fire and the Killing Machine, I think we'd make a fine pair" Katniss could only stare at him a bit dumbfounded, still wondering if when she hit him with the branch was affecting him.


End file.
